Hutcheson Street Glasgow

I've always like the view up this city centre street with the hospital building at the top. Two Glasgow lawyers, George and Thomas Hutcheson, left a trust fund to build a school for poor boys and a hospice for old men which is the hospital in the picture. ( Not sure if they left anything to poor girls and old women )
I also like the granite column with the basket of tools on the top. I'm not sure what it's about but inscribed on the pavement round it is something like "merchant and trades house working together". I was in a bit of a rush so didn't investigate further but I will. Maybe a fellow Glaswegian can help me out.